


he was a skater boy, she said see you later boy

by orphan_account



Series: edling week 2018 [4]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Edling Week 2018, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, oblivious gays are oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 06:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14971445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: ling yao is the cutest boy edward has ever met and has been crushing on him since the first day of school.ling has braces, plays soccer, and is practically everything that ed could ever love in a person.so is it such a big deal if ling doesn't even like him back?(edling week day four: pining)





	he was a skater boy, she said see you later boy

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i have never read homestuck a day in my life and all of my knowledge comes exclusively from tumblr good night

“Wait, so you’re trying to tell me you don’t know what  _ feelings  _ are?!”, Edward exclaims. He reaches across the table to grab a pudding cup off of Alphonse’s plate, causing his brother to shoot him a glare.

 

Lan Fan nods, tearing open a pack of fruit snacks as Edward gapes in their direction. “I haven’t felt anything else other than pure, unbridled rage ever since I was a child.”

 

Ed opens the pudding cup in his hands and licks a bit off of the wrapper. “Towards what? The fact that your sippy cup wouldn’t close properly when you wanted it to?”

 

Their entire table bursts into laughter, with Edward sitting in the middle of it like a cat who’s finally caught the canary.    
  


“You remind me of Edward.”, Alphonse says, smiling. “Mom swore he came out the womb frowning, she was so scared he was gonna be wrinkled by age 7.”

 

“Oh, piss off!”, Ed sputters. “You were so attached to Mom’s boob as a kid that it’s a wonder you turned out gay!”

 

Winry hits Edward in the back of his head, messing up the careful ponytail he’s put together. “You sound like an idiot, eat your fucking pudding.”

 

Ed grumbles, taking a spoonful of lemon pudding and shoving it into his mouth, mumbling obscenities under his breath. 

 

“I apologize for him.”, she says, turning to Lan Fan. They laugh behind a bottle of water, nearly spitting it out. 

 

“Speaking of apologies,”, they say, putting down their water and turning to Edward. “How’s everything going with my cousin?”

 

Ed stares blankly at her, spoon hanging from his lips. “Huh?”

 

Winry and Al sigh, nearly melting into the table. “God, Edward, she’s talking about her impossibly hot soccer playing cousin, the one you’ve had a crush on since the beginning of time.”, Al says. 

 

“Oh, um, that one.” The pudding spoon falls out of Ed’s mouth and clatters to the floor. “Well, we got partnered for our chem project, which I’ve been doing most of since he has practice most of the days I’m free.”

 

“Which is every day of the week.”, Winry pipes up. Ed glares daggers in her direction, a blush high on his cheeks. 

 

“Anyways, we’ve talked a bunch in class, but I have yet to actually ask him to do something outside of school.”, he finishes. Al, Winry, and Lan Fan stare at him as he sucks the remaining pudding off of his fingers. 

 

“What?”, he says, voice cracking. “It’s not like he’ll actually want to talk to me!”

 

“Holy shit, Ed, it’s been months since you told us you had a crush on Ling!”, Al groans. “If he hasn’t wanted to talk to you since school started, you’d legitimately never see him again.”

 

Winry slumps down in her seat, banging her head repeatedly against the table. “I thought no one else could wield the title of useless bisexual but me, but Ed, please, just fucking take it.”

 

Paninya slides into the seat next to Winry, depositing a tray heaped with fries in the center of the table. ‘Why is my beautiful girlfriend trying to crack her head open on the table?” She whips her head toward Ed and Al, who raise their hands in defense. 

 

“Alright, Elrics, spill the beans.” She leans across the table, stuffing a few fries in her mouth. “Ed, I’m looking at you.”

 

“Oh my god!”, Edward exclaims. “You have a crush on one guy, and suddenly everyone attacks you for not being able to talk to him!” He throws his hands up in the air and groans. 

 

Paninya smiles slyly. “Oh, we’re talking about Ling? Maybe, if you happen to swing by my track practice after school, you’ll catch the soccer team practicing on the field.”

 

Ed blushes, grabbing a fry from Paninya’s tray. “Maybe I will.”, he promises. Paninya pumps her fist in the air, Lan Fan and Al both give him a thumbs up, and Winry narrows her eyes at him. 

 

“Are we sure he’ll, like, actually show up?”, she asks. 

 

Al nudges Winry with his elbow. “Winry, you of all people should know that the gay agenda never sleeps.”

 

* * *

 

The rest of the day goes by in a flash, with Edward bouncing his leg under his desk in every class. He doesn’t want to admit that he’s excited to see Ling, but the two classes they have together are in the morning, so his afternoon is, unfortunately, Ling-less until the bell rings for him to leave homeroom. 

 

“You seem antsy.”, Lan Fan says, walking beside him like they hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere. “He isn’t going to chase you out of the bleachers with a pitchfork just because you have a crush on him, Edward.”

 

Ed sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, that does seem a bit far-fetched. The only reason I am kinda nervous is that I don’t have my contacts in..”

 

“Are you being serious right now?”, Lan Fan asks.  Edward smiles sheepishly and pulls a pair of chunky black frames out of his backpack pocket. 

 

“These are what I’ve been wearing in class, while is why I’m sitting in the back of the class until I die.” He slips the glasses on and blinks a few times. “My contacts just ran out and I hate wearing these shits in public. I look like Harry Potter or some shit”

 

Lan Fan sighs, dragging a hand down their face ”Rest assured, Ling could literally give two fucks, as you like to say so affectionately. “

 

Edward smiles, bumping Lan Fan’s arm with his own. “Thanks for boosting my ego a bit.”

 

They grin, bumping him back. “No problem. If you two do end up together, I get the first pick of the wedding cake.”

 

Edward and Lan Fan walk together to the soccer field, where Winry sits at the fence chatting with Paninya. Her head leans on her elbows and her eyes are practically gushing rainbows as she talks to her girlfriend. 

 

Alphonse sits on the bleacher, reading a book. Ed can see his finger moving beneath the book though, so he’s most likely texting his boyfriend. 

 

Damn, why does everyone have someone except for him? It’s honestly embarrassing at this point. He might as well renounce all love and become a monk in the Himalayas. At least he can’t get roasted for his choices in boys there. 

 

“Lan Fan!” Ling comes running over to the fence, hair sweaty and sticking to his face. “You made it!”

 

Lan Fan softens at the sight of their cousin, and they give him a small wave. “I told you I wouldn’t miss your dumb practice for the world.”

 

Ling smiles, then turns to Ed. “Ed! Hey! I didn’t know you were coming?”

 

“Yeah, um, Winry wanted to see how Paninya’s new legs were working.” He gestures over to where Winry’s practically jumped the fence to poke and prod at Paninya’s prosthetics, much to the annoyance of the coach. “I’m Winry and Al’s ride home, since I'm the only one of us with a car, so I can’t really go anywhere. Plus, I heard that you were pretty decent at soccer, but if your soccer skills are anything like your chemistry work, I’m gonna have to take that back.”

 

Ling blushes, then laughs. “Edward Elric, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to flirt with me.”  He flashes Ed a rare smile, soft and small instead of practically stretching out his face. His braces peek past his lips, and his hands shoot up to cover them

 

Ed chuckles. “Maybe I am.”

 

“Nice glasses, by the way, Ed.” Ling waves them off as he goes back to join practice and Ed wheezes. 

 

“God, how did I do that?”, he turns to Lan Fan, who just shrugs. “He smiled at me, you saw that right?”

 

He goes up to the bleachers and lays his head in Winry’s lap. She looks down at him and runs her hands through his hair. 

 

“Winry Rockbell, you have to promise you’ll love me forever.”, he mutters into her skirt. 

 

Winry laughs. “Very bold of you to assume I didn’t make that promise when I saw your skinny ass walk into class. What, did you finally snap and send your college application papers upstate like we keep telling you to?”

 

“No, I keep telling you and Al that I’m gonna wait until we all graduate to go to college.” He rolls over so that they’re looking at each other. “Anyways, I semi-flirted with a boy and didn’t fuck it up.”

 

She claps her hands then reaches down to squish his cheeks. “I’m so proud of you! Baby’s first flirt!”

 

“Alright, alright, you can get your hands off me now.” He swats her hands away with mock disgust and sits up to actually watch Ling like he came here to do. 

 

Which is a bad idea when you’ve got a huge crush on a  _ soccer player  _ and it’s nearly  _ 95 degrees  _ outside. 

 

“Winry, Winry, oh my god.” Al taps her shoulder impatiently, snickering at the look on his older brother’s face. “You didn’t tell him that Ling has a habit of lifting up his shirt to wipe off his face, did you? Oh my god, Winry, we killed him.”

 

Ed makes a high-pitched whining sound and buries his face into Al’s shoulder. 

 

* * *

 

**yao clan here we stand:** lan fan if edward looks at me one more time im going to burst into flames

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** well then i guess you’d really be a flaming homosexual then

 

**yao clan here we stand:** HA HA very funny but im trying to be serious

 

**yao clan here we stand:** like do you think there’s a chance he might like me?

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** i don’t know have you asked him

 

**yao clan here we stand:** and risk the chance of asking out a straight boy? id rather die

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** how do you know he’s straight?

 

**yao clan here we stand:** have you seen the way he looks at that winry girl? thats a full heterosexual!

 

**yao clan here we stand:** he was laying in her lap yesterday during practice...welcome to the heartbreak hotel population: me

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** you truly are the dumbest asian ive ever met

 

**yao clan here we stand:** FIRST OF ALL: thats a racist statement so i need an apology issued to my desk tomorrow morning. the minimum word count is 3000 words, single-spaced THANK YOU

 

**yao clan here we stand:** SECOND OF ALL: he’s like the cutest boy ive ever seen and he always wears his hair down which makes me wanna like. tackle him or some shit thanks for being no help LIKE ALWAYS

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** i’m taking your killawatt highlighters until they can find a better home

 

**yao clan here we stand:** lan fan do not go into my bathroom i will kill you for real

 

-

 

They don’t respond after that, so Ling goes into his bathroom and grabs his makeup from under the sink. He shoves it under his pillow and leans against it, looking warily at his window like they’ll burst in any second and take his Fenty hostage. 

 

Lan Fan does have a point; he doesn’t know 100% if Edward is straight. Sure, it would break his heart if he was, but it’d still be better than pining over a straight boy until he graduates. 

 

Maybe he should invite him over. They do need to work on this project, and there’s only half a chance he’ll be busy. It is a Saturday, after all. 

-

**yao clan here we stand:** ed

 

**yao clan here we stand:** EDWARD

 

**karkat vantas kin:** what do you want ling

 

**yao clan here we stand:** first of all what the FUCK is your user 

 

**karkat vantas kin:** yknow like homestuck

 

**yao clan here we stand:** ed ive lived in china for most of my life do you think id know what a homestuck is

 

**karkat vantas kin:** ……yeah that makes sense

 

**karkat vantas kin:** anyways what do you want

 

**yao clan here we stand:** do you wanna come over to my house and work on our project? lan fan is like determined to kick my ass in this class and im shit at chem fdbffndsjkd

 

**karkat vantas kin:** wow you’re good at everything BUT chem? shocker

 

 **karkat vantas kin:**  im bad at everything...but chem

 

**karkat vantas kin:** dw ill be over with my books nd stuff in like 10 min

 

**yao clan here we stand:** id DIE for u edward elric

 

**karkat vantas kin:** well im here so you dont have to

 

**karkat vantas kin:** see u later

 

-

Ling sets his phone down and squeals into his pillow. There’s a cute boy, a cute leather jacket wearing, long hair having boy coming over to his house and Ling has to try not to kiss him for the entire night. 

 

Oh, this was a bad idea.

 

He shakes his head, hair flipping back and forth in its ponytail. That’s no way to talk. They’re gonna do this project, eat some snacks, maybe watch a movie, and it’ll all be over. Ed’ll go home, and Ling is gonna be stuck with a crush the size of the Atlantic on the best guy he’s ever met. 

 

The doorbell rings and Ling almost jumps a foot into the air. He takes a few deep breaths and walks downstairs to open the door.

 

Edward stands there, hair slightly damp and a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. “Mind if I come in?”, he says in that adorably, slightly Southern drawl of his. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, come in.” Ling steps aside so Ed can come in. He toes off his shoes before coming onto the carpet and sets both his helmet and backpack on one of the couches. 

 

“I’m guessing your dad isn’t too big on modest decoration?”, Edward asks, eyeing his father’s decorative vases dotting the room.

 

Ling looks around and mentally kicks himself. “Yeah, you’d think the house was enough. He always brings something back from his trips to keep in the house, I’m surprised we haven’t sold anything yet.”

 

Ed laughs and begins taking out his stuff. “Alright, I brought a few of my books so we can start planning what we want to do.” He spreads out a few of their textbooks onto the coffee table, along with a few leather-bound volumes that Ling’s never seen in class before.

 

“What are those?” He climbs over the couch and picks up one of the books. Edward carefully takes it out of his hands and sets it back down on the table. 

 

“That’s one of my dad’s chemistry notebooks. He left them here when he walked out and my mom wanted me and Al to have ‘em before she died. Of course, I’m the only one of us who reads ‘em more than once, so Al lets me keep them in my room for the time being.”

 

Ling goes silent, but leans his head on Ed’s shoulder. “Sorry to hear about your dad.”

 

Ed hesitates for a second, but wraps an arm around Ling’s shoulder. “Thanks. It gets a little better every day, especially when I’m around people living on the opposite side of the asshole spectrum.” He smiles and it's like a strike of lightning through Ling's  heart

 

They don’t get much done. Ling gives up halfway, tossing Edward’s flashcards aside and rolling on the floor.

 

“This is bullshit!”, he exclaims. Edward looks down at him, glasses balancing on the tip of his nose. He chuckles a little, then closes the book in his hands

 

“Alright, well, what do you want to do? It  _ was  _ your idea to study together, so I can’t imagine you’d want to do anything else than pass chem class?”

 

Ling springs up, a confident smile on his face. “You’d be surprised as to how much I can do to avoid doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Like, a movie for example? I’ll put on a movie if I don’t feel like moving, and by the time it's over, I’m either asleep or I’ve found something else to do.”

 

Ed laughs. “Ok, then. What do you have in mind?”

 

Ling goes over to the TV and flips through the various assortment of movies he has. “Have you seen  _ Kubo and the Two Strings? _ ”, he asks, holding up the DVD case.

 

“Can’t say that I have.”

 

“Well, it’s settled then.” Ling pops the movie into the DVD player then turns off the lights. Edward holds up the blanket he’s acquired for Ling to snuggle into onto the couch. 

 

The movie starts with a rainstorm, beautiful shades of blue and grey all swirled together. Ed instinctively grabs for Ling’s hand with each thunderclap, and Ling pats his arm. 

 

“Stop motion movies are amazing.”, Edward whispers. Ling looks up at him and his heart swells; those dumb glasses of his are pushed up, and his golden hair curls slightly as it cascades down his shoulders. He turns to Ling, a billion stars held in his eyes and smiles. 

 

“You’re really pretty, you know that?”, he says. “Your braces make you look cute.”

 

Ling blinks once, twice, then hides his face in Edward’s hoodie. 

 

“No, I’m not.”, he whines. “God, you can’t just say things like that being as straight as you are!”

 

This sends Edward into full-on laughter. “You thought I was straight?”

 

Ling looks up so quickly Ed swears he hears something snap in his neck. “You  _ aren’t _ ?”

 

“Nope.”, Ed says, shaking his head. “I’ve been bi since freshman year, Ling.”

 

He nearly cries with relief. “Wow, jeez, glad that’s over with. I owe Lan Fan honeybuns now, thanks for ruining my bank account, asshole.”

 

Ed grabs Ling’s hands and holds them tight as he focuses on the movie. “Ling, if you can look me in the face and tell me that you and Lan Fan didn’t just bet on my apparent heterosexuality, I might be able to kiss you without laughing.”

 

Ling looks at Edward with pleading eyes. “Please just go ahead and kiss me, Ed, because you know I can’t say that with a good conscience.”

 

Ed turns to him, smile sweet and wide, then gives him a slow kiss on his mouth. It leaves Ling with a simmering heat in his belly and what has to be the biggest fucking heart eyes for Edward that he’s ever felt. 

 

“I was gonna kiss you anyways.”, Ed says, placing his head on Ling’s shoulder. “I’ve liked you since the beginning of school, and every time you looked at me I swore I was gonna die.”

 

“Ed, that’s like 6 whole months, oh my god.” Ling giggles, hands coming up to hide his braces. “You remember that one day we did boxing after school because Lan Fan was gonna do American Ninja Warrior and we all wanted to get buff to support her. I most certainly was not prepared for you, 5 foot Edward Elric, to take off your shirt and be on, like, some level 50 bicep warrior bullshit!” He squeezes Ed’s arm for emphasis. “It isn’t fair how hot you are!”

 

Ling kisses him again, a small peck on the lips, and they laugh.

 

“I never got to ask you this,”, Ling says. “But why was your hair wet when you came over?”

 

Edward blushes and Ling decides it’s his favorite thing in the world. “I was in the shower when you texted me and kinda rushed to get out of the house..”

 

Ling has never laughed so hard in his life.

 

* * *

 

 

**yao clan here we stand:** GUESS WHAT BITCH

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** you have a boyfriend

 

**yao clan here we stand:** I HAVE A BOYFRIEND

 

**yao clan here we stand:** wait how did you know

 

**lesbian flag no jutsu:** don’t question me

 

-

**karkat vantas kin:** AHHHHHHHH

 

**karkat vantas kin:** IM DATE

 

**handy manny:** use ur words

 

**karkat vantas kin:**  I HAVE A BOYFRIEND WINRY FUCK OFF

 

**handy manny:** thats great! now u can sleep there instead of on my couch

 

**not a furry:** aww karkat finally found his dave

 

**karkat vantas kin:** al shut up i will literally kill you in real life

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> you guys can IMAGINE how easy this was for me bc pining is my main juice and it was so satisfying letting ling keysmash in this fic,,
> 
> i had so much fun writing this ed and ling are my faves! we have some good banter between these two and just putting them in a high school setting is so fun and funky
> 
> (also good news +promo of the day: if youve seen love simon and want a shirt to wear for pride, omaze has a lovely design you can find on their site + the shipping is lowkey fast like i ordered mine on the 12, got confirmation on the 14th and my shirt just got here! its a lil pricey tho so beware babes! wish i was being paid to say this but i just like shirts...and its soft..)


End file.
